Is there flight simulator software available which runs in a network
cofiguration whereby an instructor could establish training scenarios for
multiple students at one time?

--
Richard Kaplan

www.flyimc.com

* Richard Kaplan -- Thursday 28 October 2004 16:00:
> Is there flight simulator software available which runs in a network
> cofiguration whereby an instructor could establish training scenarios for
> multiple students at one time?

Shouldn't be hard to do with FlightGear (which is Free & Open Source and can
be downloaded here: http://www.flightgear.org/). It has HTTP and telnet
server capabilities built-in. You can connect to a running instance via
network and read and change basically all values from your telnet program
or web browser. You can also read out the current screen contents as JPEG
via HTTP right into your browser. All you need to do is write a simple
script/program that sends all property changes to several instances of
FlightGear, rather than just to one.

m.

Melchior FRANZ > wrote in message kom.at>...
>
> Shouldn't be hard to do with FlightGear (which is Free & Open Source and can
> be downloaded here: http://www.flightgear.org/). It has HTTP and telnet
> server capabilities built-in. You can connect to a running instance via
> network and read and change basically all values from your telnet program
> or web browser. You can also read out the current screen contents as JPEG
> via HTTP right into your browser. All you need to do is write a simple
> script/program that sends all property changes to several instances of
> FlightGear, rather than just to one.
>
> m.

Thanks for this post, I was wondering how the networking capability of
FlightGear was handled. But I have a question regarding this type of
senerio. If I have two instances of FlightGear going on two different
machines with a program talking between the two providing updates etc.
Does that mean that I could see the other user's plane fly by etc?
It seems to me that I would, but before I dive into a program to
handle the networking portion, I'm a little curious as to if this is
actually the case.

Thanks in Advance,
Chris Schmitz

PS I love FligthGear, I've been using it for the past few years, and
it's only gotten better,..

* Chris -- Monday 01 November 2004 21:21:
> I have a question regarding this type of
> senerio. If I have two instances of FlightGear going on two different
> machines with a program talking between the two providing updates etc.
> Does that mean that I could see the other user's plane fly by etc?

These are two different things that only share the fact that they run
over network. What you are asking for -- multi"player" capability --
is implemented, but does AFAIK not work very well and it isn't a high
priority on the developers' list. Actually, none of the core developers
works on this. It's rather outsiders that occasionally discuss it and
end up with half-finished work before they drop off the mailing lists.

The other networking/IO capabilities aren't thought for multi"player" use,
but for serious tasks, such as teacher/pupil interaction, master/slave
architecture (render side windows on slaves, etc.), interaction with
hardware (fgfs is used in commercial flight simulators!), using fgfs
as a display for data streams (e.g. from flight data recorders) etc.
fgfs is at the same time client and server, and these things are very
well developed and functional. Note, that FlightGear is not a game
or scenery viewer, but a serious simulator. :-)

m.


PS: http://www.flightgear.org/

Thanks for your help

Do you know if it is feasible to set up a very fast processor such as a
server to permit using MS Flight Simulator by multiple pilots at the same
time, each with his own monitor and yoke but all connected to the same
computer?

* Richard Kaplan -- Wednesday 03 November 2004 20:19:
> Do you know if it is feasible to set up a very fast processor such as a
> server to permit using MS Flight Simulator by multiple pilots at the same
> time, each with his own monitor and yoke but all connected to the same
> computer?

I can't say for MSFS -- I don't run MICROS~1 systems. But no matter if you
really mean MSFS, or FGFS (FlightGear flight sim): I don't think that this
would work very well. FGFS simply needs a lot of CPU power, and separate
networked machines are definitely preferable -- probably cheaper, too.
Also handling multiple input devices by several instances of a simulator
on one machine could be tricky, although a Linux/Unix machine should grok
it. I'd ask on the fgfs mailing list (or an equivalent MSFS list). My
expertise isn't worth much.

As FlightGear is Free/Open Source Software, you can simply download it,
install it on as many machines as you like, and test it. If you can run
several instances on one machine with reasonable frame rate, it may be
worth to look into the other problems *then*.

m.